10 Things to Know for Today: 8-21

8/21/2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Obit-Elmore-Leonard-12

    FILE - In this June, 18, 1996 file photo, writer Elmore Leonard sits on the set of his latest book-turned movie, "Pronto," in Miami Beach, Fla. Leonard, a former adman who later in life became one of America's foremost crime writers, has died. He was 87. His researcher says he passed away Tuesday morning, Aug. 20, 2013 from complications from a stroke. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    • Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

    1. ACTIVISTS CLAIM GAS ATTACK IN SYRIA

    Pro-opposition groups say “rockets with poisonous gas heads” killed over a hundred people in the suburbs of the nation’s capital.

    2. WHY THE US WON’T TAKE ACTION IN SYRIA

    A memo obtained by The Associated Press says the Obama administration believes rebels fighting Assad won’t support U.S. interests if they took over.

    3. MUBARAK’S BID FOR FREEDOM

    A court hearing was set for today to decide whether Egypt’s former president could go free after his life sentence was overturned on appeal.

    4. FEARS OF NEWTOWN AT GEORGIA SCHOOL

    Parents rushed to an elementary school where an armed gunman exchanged fire with police, but all 800 students were safely evacuated.

    5. MANNING TO LEARN FATE

    A judge will announce today what sentence the Army private will serve for leaking reams of classified information to WikiLeaks.

    6. NIXON’S FINAL HOURS

    The last installment of secretly recorded tapes of phone calls between the president on Watergate and Soviet peace talks are going to be released today.

    7. FORT HOOD SUSPECT TO PRESENT DEFENSE

    But it wasn’t clear whether Army Maj. Nidal Hasan would call any witnesses before a military jury begins deliberating the case.

    8. HOW MANY HIGH SCHOOLERS ARE READY FOR COLLEGE

    The ACT testing company says just a quarter of this year’s grads have the reading, math, English and science skills they need.

    9. THREE TEENS CHARGED IN KILLING OF AUSSIE ATHLETE

    In the wake of the random slaying in Oklahoma, Australia’s former deputy prime minister urges a travel boycott to force Congress to act on gun control.

    10. HOW ELMORE LEONARD MADE HIS MARK

    The author, who died Tuesday at 87, helped do for crime writing what Stephen King did for horror. He made it hip, and he made it respectable.